Malacca: Who's to pay for
smooth sailing? By Vijay Sakhuja
SINGAPORE - The Strait of Malacca was the
center of tension in 2004 between the waterway's
littoral states and US Admiral Thomas Fargo,
commander in chief of US Pacific Command, who
announced that under the Regional Maritime
Security Initiative, the US was planning to deploy
marines and special forces in and around the
strait to combat terrorism, proliferation, piracy,
gun-running, narcotics-smuggling and
human-trafficking.
The following year,
Lloyd's Market Association's Joint War Committee
(JWC) declared the Strait of Malacca, along with
several maritime areas in West
Asia and Africa, as highly prone to piracy, war,
strikes, terrorism and related perils. It was
feared that al-Qaeda could exploit piracy in the
Strait of Malacca to attack ships, and the JWC
declaration resulted in the imposition
of higher
insurance premiums for ships transiting through
the strait.
At the time, Malaysia and
Indonesia were averse to the US initiative,
positing that such a deployment raised serious
sovereignty concerns. The littoral countries -
Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand -
responded through the so-called "Eyes in the Sky"
initiative, and the International Maritime Bureau
acknowledged that the sea and air patrols
undertaken by the littoral states had proved
effective and incidents of piracy had reduced
drastically.
Today, however, there is a
shift in the way the strait is viewed by the
international maritime community. Significantly,
as a result of considerable improvement in
security, issues of safety of navigation in the
strait have taken priority and begun to dominate
discussions.
In the coming years, traffic
density is projected to increase from 94,000 ships
in 2004 to 141,000 in 2020. Given this projected
phenomenal increase in traffic, the quality of
navigational aids in the strait will have to be
enhanced for a smooth flow of traffic and to
prevent accidents. Under Article 43 of the United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, it is
the responsibility of the littoral states to
maintain navigational aids in the strait, as it is
to prevent pollution.
The littoral states
have held several Track I and II interactions on
improving the safety of navigation in the strait,
including an August 2005 ministerial-level
tripartite meeting of the Strait of Malacca
littorals and International Maritime Organization
(IMO)-sponsored discussions in Jakarta in 2005 and
in Kuala Lumpur in 2006.
The recently
concluded Symposium on the Enhancement of Safety
of Navigation and the Environmental Protection of
the Straits of Malacca called for sharing the cost
of maintenance of navigational aids and preventing
environmental hazards that could severely impact
on the livelihood of coastal communities -
including the fishing and tourism industries. The
littoral states have vehemently argued that with a
manifold increase in traffic, the costs of
maintenance are expected to be as high as US$300
million in the next decade, and they should not
bear this burden on their own.
Japan has
long contributed financially to the upkeep and
maintenance of the strait, and in recent years
India, South Korea and the United States have also
pledged assistance. China has offered to restore
and repair navigational aids damaged during the
2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Over and above these
voluntary offers, the Nippon Foundation of Japan
has suggested that all ships transiting the strait
contribute a voluntary fee of 1 US cent per
deadweight ton of cargo. This contribution could
generate $40 million a year and would help support
and upgrade navigational aids in the strait.
Another approach suggested is for shipping
companies to make contributions based on the
practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Footing the bill The "all users
pay" suggestion has been gathering momentum, but
has received a mixed response from the shipping
community. The International Chamber of Shipping,
the Association of Independent Tanker Owners, and
the Baltic and International Maritime Council have
agreed to discuss the issue of voluntary
contributions.
The Singapore Shipping
Association, a group consisting of 300 members,
has urged the Asian shipping industry to
participate in discussions but has noted that
ships visiting ports in the littoral states pay
so-called "port and light" dues, and this money
should be used for the maintenance and upkeep of
the navigational aids in the strait.
It is
of interest that most of the shipping traffic
transiting the strait is classified as "long-haul
through traffic" - that is, most vessels do not
call at any ports of the littoral states and thus
do not pay any port charges. It is also evident
that there are several stakeholders involved in
the safety of navigation in the strait: littoral
countries, user states, shipping companies,
insurance agents and, above all, the IMO, the top
maritime body under the UN.
The littoral
countries are desperate to seek support from other
stakeholders, but user states and their companies
are not forthcoming and argue that the
responsibility should lie solely with the
littorals. There are also fears that the "all
users pay" demand could set a new precedent, and
would naturally tempt other littoral countries
that straddle narrow sea passages and choke points
through which global shipping transits to impose
similar charges.
These overriding issues
notwithstanding, the ongoing discussions at both
the Track I and II levels have raised the issue of
safety of navigation in the Strait of Malacca as a
top priority. The proposal by littoral states of
burden-sharing will clearly not be smooth sailing,
but could yet yield results. The IMO could become
a central repository of an international fund with
contributions made by flag states to extend
disbursements to needy countries.
This
approach is bound to be very slow, time-consuming
and peppered with politics and bureaucratic
hassle. For their part, the flag states could
raise such funds from registered shipping
companies whose vessels are engaged in
international shipping. Since this burden is not
likely to be very large, the shipping industry
could pass it to suppliers and end users.
But all stakeholders must appreciate that
a safe and secure environment in the Strait of
Malacca cannot be achieved by the efforts of
littoral countries alone, but instead requires
mutual understanding and cooperation from all
parties. For that, it is necessary to start by
sharing common values on the benefits of
burden-sharing, to be provided for and enjoyed by
the entire maritime community.
Vijay
Sakhuja is a visiting senior research fellow
at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in
Singapore. A former Indian Navy officer, he
received his doctorate from Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi.
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of higher
insurance premiums for ships transiting through
the strait. 
